In 1977, Judy Dorsett was bored. Looking around for something that would pique her interest, she noticed a help wanted sign at her neighborhood garden center. Judy got the job, and it ignited her lifelong passion for plants and landscaping. Judy worked many years at The Garden Center, plus she started her own landscape business. She studied everything she could that had anything to do with plants and horticulture, soon becoming a certified Master Gardener.

Finally the hurly-burly of life in San Antonio got to be too much, so Judy and her husband started looking for a place in the country. They looked and looked and looked, until one day they came to see a property just north of Blanco. Judy says the minute she stepped her foot on the property, she knew it was her place. For nearly a year, Judy and her family came out weekends to work on the property, stopping for breakfast at the Twin Sisters Café, and finally moving in full time in 1979. Before long though, Judy’s husband realized that he was not a country kind of guy, while Judy was thoroughly grounded in Blanco, so they separated. Now she’s been married to Bob Dorsett for 28 years, and they still live on the property she found in 1979.

Judy brought her landscape business to Blanco when she moved here, and she opened a gift and florist shop, The Good Earth. Then one day in 1999, sitting on the square across from the courthouse with a friend, she wondered, “Do you think anyone would mind if I went over there and pulled some of those weeds?” The friend was Retta Martin, and the weed pulling was the beginning of Keep Blanco Beautiful.

Forward to today, and Keep Blanco Beautiful is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Judy and Retta and the volunteers of Keep Blanco Beautiful were responsible for the improvements to Bindseil Park, which included raising the funds. Remember when it was just a dirt path through a bunch of weeds and scrub?

They continue to maintain and improve the park, including the annual Christmas lights and decorations, which get bigger and more impressive every year. They also tend to the flowers on the square along Pecan street. Any Tuesday morning you will find Judy and her Keep Blanco Beautiful fellows working in the park and on the square, truly keeping Blanco beautiful.

Judy also joined the Baptist Church when she moved to Blanco, where she sang with The Jubilee Singers. She still sings in the church choir, and she sings with the Blanco Community Choir for their annual Christmas concert.

Beauty is a core value in Judy’s life, whether its plants and flowers, music, or even cosmetics—Judy is the cosmetics consultant at Merle Norman!

Blanco’s gardening expert, Judy writes the gardening column for this newspaper.

At 81, Judy is a passionate and energetic woman. About her life, she says, “It’s been a good journey.”

She is certainly never bored.